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Color Inspirations

Selecting a color palette for your quilt or sewing project doesn’t have to be hard. Inspiration is everywhere! See how to choose fabrics for your quilt with tips from nature, fashion, and even home decor.

Orange Palette

Combine light and dark fabrics of the same color. Here orange prints in varying hues team up in a warm, comforting palette. Add a dark neutral, such as brown, to balance the bright colors. Choose a brown with golden undertones to complement the warm orange fabrics.

Gold Star

When selecting fabrics for a quilt, you don’t necessarily need equal proportions of color. In this holiday vignette, golds and creams outnumber powder blue hues. Choose prints with elaborate designs to bring the elegant look of a carefully wrapped present to your project.

Winter’s Glow

Winter white, cool blues, woodland brown, and a bit of yellow combine perfectly and would make a beautiful quilt. The yellow and white offer pops of color while the blues’ varied prints add contrast and interest without overwhelming the palette.

Berry Bursts

Combine happy reds, bright green, deep purple, and calming tans to mimic the look of fresh-from-the vine berries. Add texture, just like the seeds on a strawberry, by choosing fabrics with tone-on-tone accents or subtle prints.

Cliff at Sunset

Capture the beauty of a sunset against a natural landscape with fabric that pulls in rich golds and deep blues. A mixture of bold prints and subtle designs mimics both the surprise and grace that nature offers.

Apple and Caramel

These colors are so scrumptious together—just like the fall flavors of caramel, apples, cinnamon, and oranges. Keep reds and greens from looking too Christmasy by choosing a lighter green and mixing in patterned neutrals.

Artistic Pottery

Museums are filled with ancient pottery, beautiful paintings, and stoic statues. Quilts are also magnificent works of art composed of intricate patterns, brilliant colors, and elaborate designs. Make your next quilt something to be hung in a museum by choosing a variety of prints. Florals, paisleys, stripes, and dots all add to the intricacy of your quilt. Pair bright colors, such as oranges and teals, with darker blues and greens to achieve the right balance.

Tricks and Treats

You can make any color fabric pop off a quilt by pairing it with black. If you’re using only two or three colors in a project, such as the orange, black, and white fabrics featured here, make sure to use fun and graphic prints to provide interest and contrast.

Lovely Lilacs

If you look closely, flowers are complex in their colors and patterns. Learn from nature by pairing different shades of one color with a few standout colors. Subtle prints add interest without distracting from the quilt design.

Cherry Season

See how each cherry has a different color and the light bounces off each in a different way? Help your quilt have the same nuances by choosing different prints of the same color. Add touches of an additional color with a muted green and neutrals that won’t overwhelm an already rich quilt.

Nature’s Beauty

Don’t be afraid to use wild prints in your quilts. Help these prints blend into your quilt instead of taking it over by pairing them with coordinating solid colors. You’ll achieve the harmony that nature presents in its beautiful plants.

Fall Landscape

Fall is nature’s last hurrah before winter sets in. Bright colors and chaotic movement are all part of this wonderful season. To cuddle up in a quilt that mimics autumn, choose fabrics with golds, oranges, and browns that feature a variety of prints, which will add movement to your quilt—just like leaves blowing in the wind.